Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert says vaccine key as demand for Melbourne route roars back

Get the vaccine, get your life back. That’s Sydney Airport boss Geoff Culbert’s message as demand for key air routes returns.

Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert is delighted Sydney-Melbourne has usurped Sydney-Ballina as the country’s busiest air route. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Sydney-Melbourne has roared back into the top five busiest air routes in the world, in an encouraging sign of recovery for Sydney Airport.

New data from air traffic analyst OAG, ranked Sydney-Melbourne the fifth busiest route worldwide in May, based on airline capacity of 658,805 seats.

Previously the world’s second busiest route prior to the COVID crisis, Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said he was glad to see air traffic rebuilding between Australia’s biggest cities.

Speaking after the airport’s annual general meeting on Friday, he said it was a big improvement on having Sydney-Ballina as the country’s number one route.

“As much as we love Byron Bay, from an international airport’s perspective, having Sydney-Ballina as your number one route isn’t where we want to be,” Mr Culbert said.

“We’re pleased with the recovery of domestic travel. Over April it got back to 65 per cent of pre-COVID levels, and that shows there’s a willingness from people to travel once they have confidence that borders will stay open.”

He remained hopeful international borders would reopen sooner than mid-2022 providing the vaccination rollout continued to gain momentum.

In 2020, Sydney Airport saw passengers plunge 75 per cent, which translated to a $145m full year loss, down from a $403m profit the previous year.

Mr Culbert said vaccination was the key to being able to travel overseas, and it was critical that as many people as possible got the jab, as fast as possible.

“The grand bargain is ‘you get the vaccine, you get your life back’,” he said.

“As more and more people get vaccinated, it will lead to growing confidence and optimism in our ability to open up international borders.”

The trans-Tasman bubble had shown the airport could easily manage more quarantine-free travel arrangements, with rapid COVID-testing on site for travellers.

The AGM also heard the airport was targeting 2030 to become fully “carbon neutral” by tackling all emissions other than those produced by airlines using the gateway.

Under the plan, CO2 emissions generated by the airport’s vehicle fleet and natural gas use, and those created during production of electricity will be tackled over the next nine-years.

Mr Culbert said that would involve transitioning the vehicle fleet to low or no-emissions technology, and phasing out fuel-powered equipment like diesel generators.

At the same time, the airport would switch to 100 per cent renewable energy to power the terminals.

“The aviation industry has a critical role to play in combating climate change, and we are making this commitment with clear line of sight to the outcome, and definite actions to get there,” Mr Culbert said.

“We are always on the lookout for ways we can do more and our commitment to achieve

net zero by 2030 extends our leadership on sustainability.”

Sydney Airport would also target emissions beyond its direct control, including those generated by aircraft taking off and landing, and vehicles travelling to and from the airport.

To that end, electric charging stations would be installed in carparks to support electric cars, and the airport had acquired the jet fuel infrastructure to accommodate sustainable aircraft fuels in the future.

The AGM welcomed new chair David Gonski, to replace the retiring Trevor Gerber who described the past year as “the most difficult Sydney Airport had ever faced”.